Bills Sack Broncos At The Wire

[dogwood30]

One yard. Three feet. One play. One sack. That was the story as the defending AFC Champion Buffalo Bills held off John Elway and the Denver Broncos 28-21 in the second Divisional Round game in the D30LEFL. Cornelieus Bennett sacked John Elway on what was one untimed down from the Buffalo 1 yd line to seal the Bills victory. Here is how we got there.

Buffalo took the opening kickoff and established a good running game early. Thurman Thomas and Joe Cribbs led the Bills downfield to the Broncos 20 when QB Jim Kelly hit WR Andre Reed to give Buffalo a 7-0 lead. Denver came right back driving the ball to their own 44. On 2nd and 10 Elway found TE Shannon Sharpe on a seam route and Sharpe eluded the Bills secondary for a 56 yard TD play. It was 7-7 at the end of the 1st quarter. On Buffalo's first possession of the 2nd quarter they again were able to run Cribbs and Thomas for good yardage including a 27 yd run by Thomas to the Denver 10. After Cribbs picked up 1yd Kelly hit Reed for the second time from 9 yards out and the Bills were back in front 13-7. A bad snap caused K Steve Christie to miss the extra point and it remained 13-7. Denver responded again. The hot John Elway hit on 3 of 4 passes to get the ball to the Bills 48. After Terrell Davis was stopped for no gain Elway hit Rod Smith down the right sideline for a 48 yd TD to tie the game. Jason Elam's kick put Denver up by 1 point 14-13 with 7:31 to go in the half. After a touchback Jim Kelly directed the Bills on an 80 yard drive highlighted by a 44 yd completion to Eric Moulds. Just after the 2 minute warning Thurman Thomas scored from 2 yards out and Buffalo took a 20-14 lead into the locker room. The 3rd quarter was scoreless when both teams had long drives ended in each others territory on interceptions. As the 4th quarter began it felt like a big play would decide the out come of the game and it did. Denver suddenly found some success on the ground and backs Terrell Davis and Floyd Little made some nice runs. Elway was able to mix things up and drove the Broncos to the go ahead score a 10 yard bullett from Elway to Shannon Sharpe and Denver led 21-20 with 10:15 left in the game. Buffalo began their next drive on their own 20. Cribbs ran for 5 yds. Thomas for 3 and on 3rd down Kelly hit Reed at the 32 for a first down. Then disaster struck. Kelly hit Moulds on a quick slant but Steve Atwater jarred the ball loose and Denver recovered on the Buffalo 47 with 5:48 to go. Little and Davis were able to pick up a first down on the straight runs to the Bills 25. Buffalo had to use a timeout and then got to the 2 minute warning. Little ran for 3 more yards.Then it came , the big play. Davis took a handoff and went around the right side for a nice gain but was slammed and fumbled at the Denver 16. Bills LB Darryl Talley scooped up the ball and raced 84 yards to give the lead back to Buffalo 26-21. The crowd was going crazy. Bills head coach Marv Levy decided to go for 2 and Joe Cribbs came through with the 2 yd run for the 2 pt. conversion. Buffalo led 28-21 with 1:13 left. With 3 time outs left the stage was set for John Elway. Starting from their own 33 Elway hit Brandon Marshall out to the Broncos 49 and used a timeout. Elway then hit Davis who ran it to the Buffalo 37 and Denver spent their 2nd timeout with just :37 left The next play Elway missed Smith at the 15 yd. line. The clock was down to :21. Elway then hit Smith who got to the Buffalo 8 and Denver used their final timeout with :09 left. On the next play Elway scrambled to his left as Marshall broke open in the endzone but Elway overthrew him.and left 1 second on the clock. One last try. On almost the exact same play Elway rolled left. Marshall shook free again and Elway threw incomplete but pass interference was called on Buffalo giving Elway another last shot from the Bills 1 yd. line. One untimed play still gave Denver a chance. On the final play Elway took the snap and looked right. Both Sharpe and Smith were covered at the goal line and Marshall couldn't shake his defender. By then it was too late Bennett came flying around the right end and sacked Elway ending what was yet again another dramatic finish. With the win the Bills will host the AFC Championship Game at home against the Houston Texans.

[dogwood30]

This is my first attempt at posting game pictures. If all goes well you will see the Bills and Broncos lined up against each other. You should also see Thomas scoring from 2 yds out. Then you should see 2 angles of Elway being sacked by Bennett to end the game. Note the coverage by Buffalo at the to of the picture.

[LARamsfan]

Hey, you have some good looking teams. Are all 48 teams in your league look like shown in the photos?

[RooMorgans]

Classic looking uniforms. Love it! Great to see that you are posting pics now. Keep posting!

Ed

[dogwood30]

All 48 of my teams ( not quite done yet ) have all been painted by MFCA members with my thanks.

Ed Morgan
Jim Royall
Chris Markham
Marlon Brown
George Diamond

You guys have brought miniature football to life with your expert detailing and painting and I thank you all very much. Newcomers should check these guys out for custom painting.

Mike

[mark robin]

i got those broncos on order, i ordered them in dark jersey, but man, yours are awesome.

hey Ed, change my order to white jersey's if it aint to late...lol.

i am also getting the bills in those throwbacks soon. very nice setup you have.